World War II veteran Jack Biscaglia, right, shares a laugh with customer Don Scherer of Truckee at the 'Hot Diggity Dog' hot dog cart near the corner of Plumb Lane and Kirman Avenue. / Photo by Guy Clifton/RGJ

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If you buy a hot dog from Jack Biscaglia’s cart, he might just call you a bum.

And that’s a good thing.

Biscaglia, the 91-year-old World War II veteran who sets up his “Hot Diggity Dog” stand at the southeast corner of Plumb Lane and Kirman Avenue five days a week, uses “bum” — and a few other descriptors imported from his native New York — as a term of endearment.

If you buy a hot dog (or Polish or Italian sausage) from Jack, you’re his friend. If you come back more than once, well, welcome to the family, ya crumbum!

“I enjoy the job,” said Biscaglia, who runs the cart with Annett, his wife of 41 years. “I like all my friends and just people in general. I enjoy this job very much. Guys come in here and bust my horns like crazy, and I enjoy it.”

Fifteen years ago, Biscaglia was a 76-year-old retired custom homebuilder living in Las Vegas when he received a call from a friend.

“This guy called me up,” he said. “He was from New Jersey, but living in Las Vegas, and he decided he was going to move back to Jersey. He wanted me to buy his hot dog cart. His name was Vic. I said, ‘Vic, what am I going to do with a hot dog cart? I’m 76 years old and you want me to go into the hot dog business. That is nuts.’ So I told him no.”

Two days later, the friend called back, said he was leaving town that day and would sell the hot dog cart for $1,000. Biscaglia offered his friend $800, and the next thing you know, he was in the hot dog business and has been at it ever since.

He and Annett moved to Reno about eight years ago and have been setting up their cart at the corner of Plumb and Kirman for about the past five years.

“We try to be out here five days a week,” Annett said. “Sometimes, if it’s too cold or if Jack has an appointment at the VA, we can’t be out here. But we try to be here as often as we can.”

Biscaglia is the youngest of 11 children brought up in Westchester County in New York. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at 18 and served as a waist gunner with a B-17 Bomber group in the South Pacific.

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After the War, Biscaglia moved west. He spent 30 years in Colorado in the construction industry before moving to Las Vegas, but didn’t like the heat, so he and his wife relocated to Reno, where the weather and the customers are more to his liking.

“I have a lot of regulars who come by,” he said. “They love to bust my horns and I try to give it right back to them.”

Don Scherer of Truckee could be termed as one of “Biscaglia’s Bums.”

“Whenever I’m in town and Jack is here, I stop in,” he said. “I usually get a hot dog, but today, I’m getting a Polish. Jack’s a great guy. It’s always an adventure.”

Biscaglia was recently among a group of Northern Nevada World War II veterans who made the trip to Washington, D.C., as part of an Honor Flight program, which allowed the vets to visit the monuments and memorials in the nation’s capital.

“That was a beautiful, beautiful time to be there with the guys,” he said.

Biscaglia said all good things will have to come to an end and this year will likely be his last of operating the Hot Diggity Dog cart.

“It’s about time for me to retire,” he said. “It’s time to pack it in. I’m 91 years old and I get tired. I’ve enjoyed being the hot dog guy.”